Secretary PAULSON: Approximately 40 percent of U.S. consumer credit is provided through securitization of credit card receivables, auto loans, and student loans, and similar products.

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During most of the past decade, the financial industry placed a near-religious faith in the idea that distributing credit risk (via securitization) made banking safer.

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Morgan Stanley and other big firms are also starting to rebuild their securitization business, which pools together auto loans, credit-card receivables, and other forms of credit, and then issues bonds backed by them.

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He says when you look at October of this year versus last, there's been a 99 percent drop in the money flowing through the securitization pipeline for mortgages, consumer loans, and credit cards.

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Securitization of mortgages played a big part because it meant mortgage servicers had no real incentive to impose strict credit standards on borrowers.

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